les maths sont universels

Posted on Saturday, 2007 February 03 by Anton

Philippe “Goulu” cites my sphere arrangements page and discusses the subject thereof, in French.

Posted in blogdom, mathematics | Leave a comment

Keith Henson arrested

Posted on Saturday, 2007 February 03 by Anton

Arel Lucas writes: DELETED. Arel’s initial report, written in the heat of emotion, was relayed without her permission or knowledge and she later repented of writing it.

Some background: Wikipedia; Scientology vs Keith Henson; Keith Henson News (mirror)

New: freekeithhenson.blogspot.com

Posted in fandom, futures, religion | Leave a comment

so don’t try nothin!

Posted on Friday, 2007 February 02 by Anton

A friend of a friend exults at Boston’s narrow escape from cartoon peril:

“Take this as a warning, enemies of America. All of your nefarious plans to harm us — provided said plans are placed in in plain view on busy public streets and covered with flashing, colored lights — shall be discovered and neutralized in LESS THAN THREE WEEKS!”

By the way, what are the keywords to find a picture of the pseudinfernal device?

Posted in cartoons, security theater | 3 Comments

what do you want to create today?

Posted on Thursday, 2007 February 01 by Anton

It’s unlikely that you need me to tell you that 3d printing (aka rapid prototyping, aka stereolithography) can do wonderful things. Now Fab@Home seeks to bring the technology to the hobbyist. (Thanks to the muted horn for the link.)

Posted in technology | Leave a comment

Out. For. A. Walk. Bitch.

Posted on Thursday, 2007 February 01 by Anton

You may have seen a movie of a purported Bigfoot walking in the woods. Here is a stabilized version of that film. (Cited by Incoming Signals.)

Posted in humanities | Leave a comment

getting better all the time

Posted on Sunday, 2007 January 28 by Anton

WordPress 2.1 was announced the other day, and they’re soliciting suggestions for the next version. Here’s mine. Go there and tell me I’m all wet.

Posted in blogdom | Leave a comment

hypercorrection implies correction

Posted on Friday, 2007 January 26 by Anton

Most of us English-speakers were told as children that it’s wrong to say me and him went to the park, and we should instead say he and I. And many of us grow up extending the lesson to where it does not belong: the letter was addressed to she and I. Purists like me expostulate in vain: one wouldn’t say or to she or to I, or indeed to we, so why to she and I?

It now hits me that, in all these years of wincing at between he and I, I’ve never asked why children make the opposite error. Children rarely if ever say me went or him went, so why was it so much more natural to say me and him went?

Perhaps in all of these phenomena the partnership is considered a new entity, distinct from its components. So now I’m inspired to ask: In languages that still have a strong case system, e.g. Russian, what is the genitive of a company name like Sears & Roebuck? Do both elements become genitive, or only the last, or is the whole thing indeclinable, or what?

Posted in language | 1 Comment